Using an Arduino to Mod a Hot-Air Popcorn Popper into a Coffee Roaster
canopic jug writes:
Eric Sorensen detailed post about converting a hot-air popcorn popper into a coffee bean roaster.
I am a self-admitted coffee snob. A quality cup of black coffee is an essential part of my morning ritual. I like experimenting with coffee and I'm often trying various methods to achieve my ideal brew.
[...] I learned to roast using a popcorn air popper. This is still a popular method today and a great way to get started for those who don't want to drop the cash on a more expensive roaster.
[...] One major limitation with air poppers is that you cannot control the power output. This means the only variable you can tune is time. Its possible to get great results, but some level of quality is inevitably left on the table.
[...] In this post I will document the build of my air popper controller with PID control, temperature logging, and automatic profiles. I'll go over the hardware modifications to the stock air popper, the schematic of the controller, and details about the firmware and user interface design. All of the code is open source and available on Github. I am providing enough detail that someone interested should be able to replicate the project. If you are working on building your own and run into any issues please reach out!
The Arduino is a 32-bit, open hardware, open source platform for building low-power embedded devices, and its site also has a short summary.
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